Fight! Fight! Fight!

Michelle notes, below, that David Brooks devotes his entire New York Timescolumn today to refuting an argument made by Paul Krugman without mentioning that it's Krugman he's refuting. Usually, it's Krugman doing this to Brooks. Indeed, spotting these swipes is one of the most fun things about the Times op-ed page.

Of course, intellectual debate typically requires you to name who you're disagreeing with, and to quote your opponent's argument. The Times seems to have an off rule forbidding columnists from disagreeing with each other by name. I assume this is some kind of genteel tradition. But it ends up lowering the quality of the debate. Only readers who are paying very close attention can figure out who is making the arguments that are being challenged. And because the columnists can't name each other, they can't quote each other, so the reader doesn't know if the columnist is rebutting a real argument or a straw man.